Four years have passed since The Sopranos cut to black and in that time, series creator David Chase has been laying low. He waited until last year to announce that he’d make his feature film writing and directing debut with an untitled coming-of-age, period rock drama and since then tiny bits of information have slowly formed a bigger picture. That picture is now as complete as it’s going to get as Paramount has announced the full cast for the film.

Once rumored to be called Twylight Zones, we recently learned that Sopranos star James Gandolfini and comedienne Lisa Lampanelli were part of the film, and Variety has now announced that the remaining cast includes Brad Garrett, Bella Heathcote, Christopher McDonald and Molly Price. Read who each actor is going to play, the full cast list and some quotes from Chase after the break. Read More »

While appearing on the Howard Stern Show on Sirius/XM Satalite Radio, comedian Lisa Lampanelli revealed that she had been cast in Sopranos creator David Chase‘s highly anticipated feature film project. The story has been kept under wraps, but Lampanelli gives us an interesting bit of info: she will be playing David Chase’s mother in the movie, because she believes this is a movie about Chase’s teenage years (I’m assuming that it might be inspired by his experiences, much like Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous).

EDIT: In fact, Paramount informs us that her character is an aunt, and that the mother is being played by Molly Price of Third Watch.

Don’t call it a Sopranos reunion, but James Gandolfini is poised to work with Sopranos creator David Chase once more. The actor has taken a role in Mr Chase’s new project Twylight Zones, aka the film previously referred to as the Untitled David Chase Rock and Roll Movie. In addition, Mr. Gandolfini is circling roles in two other potentially big films: Andrew Dominik‘s Cogan’s Trade, and Stephen Daldry‘s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Read More »

Assuming that the majority of this information is valid, there are going to be about two dozen worth of news stories crammed in one here, so brace yourselves.

According to a leaked email exposing Paramount’s upcoming movie slate, they’re going to be pretty busy over the next few years, working on a slew of potentially promising projects that are either set to go ahead or awaiting further script developments. Find out which of their films you have to look forward to after the break. Read More »

This article concludes /Film’s recaps and discussions for the third season ofBreaking Bad. A spoiler warning applies after the jump for the recap and for the comments section. Meth heads welcome. For previous recaps, click here.

The season three finale, “Full Measures,” differed from those of previous seasons with a grisly cliffhanger that incidentally and tragically pushed one main character over the point of no return. Or did it? In recent days, the show’s creator, Vince Gilligan, has given three candid and revealing interviews wherein he’s cleared up a number of viewers’ apparent confusion over the very last scene. He’s done so in good humor, but I can’t recall a previous highly anticipated finale that needed the showmaker to later vouch his intent—and in Gilligan’s case he helmed the episode (his sole directorial effort of the season.) The initial confusion was due to the aim of a gun, which appeared to tilt to the right of the target before the trigger went off. And I’m guessing the immediate cut to black that followed only amplified some viewers’ doubts. “SMDH.” – David Chase.

Gilligan, who is refreshingly and perhaps too open about Breaking Bad‘s creative process, also stated that the writing team didn’t map the season’s arc at start, unlike they’ve done in the past. This revelation confirmed observations about the season’s touch-and-go feel cited in the previous recap with guest Sven Barth. After the jump, I address personal questions about the finale, where the show and characters are possibly headed, and analyze Gilligan’s post-ep comments. Thanks to the /Film commenters who left insightful and spirited opinions over the past dozen BB posts. Let us know what you thought of the finale and of the questions posed below.

Since the great success of Mad Men, we’ve been waiting to see Jon Hamm break into movies in a huge way, but with the show still going, he’s primarily taken supporting roles. He’s shot parts for a couple forthcoming projects, like Ben Affleck’s The Town, and Sucker Punch and Howl. Now he’s in talks for the currently untitled wedding comedy that Kristen Wiig wrote and will star in.

Also in talks are Dianne Wiest (lately of In Treatment, in addition to many classic Woody Allen films and more) and Matt Lucas (Little Britain, Alice in Wonderland). Judd Apatow is producing and Paul Feig is directing. Between that re-teaming and the fact that this could be Wiig’s biggest project to date, this was already worth paying attention to. With Hamm and Wiest, it could get even better. [Production Weekly]

After the break, a trio of excellent names for the exorcism film The Rite, and an open casting call for the new David Chase feature project. Read More »

Mike Flemming has learned that Sopranos creator David Chase is set to go into production on a music-driven coming-of-age rock drama in late summer/early fall. The unititled film will be Chase’s big screen directing debut, and is said to be “about a bunch of guys who form a rock band in the 1960s.” Chase wrote the screenplay himself, and the film will be released by Paramount Pictures’ indie label Paramount Vantage.

Weekend Update: Due to the amazing bitch-session in the comments: the following article is a combination free-form essay/review on the genius, relevance, and influences of writer/director Jody Hill and his works including The Foot Fist Way, Eastbound & Down, and his latest, Observe and Report. It also deals with the growing trend of incredibly dark and conflicted American male anti-heroes in movies and TV. Oh yeah, it’s also really, really, really long and I didn’t see a need to begin the piece with “If you were expecting Paul Blart, get ready for a crazy rollercoaster not suitable for the kiddies.” Because fuck Paul Blart. No one will remember that movie in five years, until the sequel is released and makes $200 million. My bad?

Let me preface this by saying that I now anticipate Jody Hill’s films more than any other working filmmaker with the exception of Paul Thomas Anderson. And on a particularly excruciating Monday, maybe Tommy Wiseau’s.

“You suck this gun like a dick and then this dick goin’ cum in your mouth and blow your brains all over the street!” – Danny McBride in Observe and Report, um, protecting his legacy

Generally speaking, there are two types of people, and as it lies, two types of moviegoers: Those who go to malls without a second thought and those who go into them only on the rarest of occasions, sucking on an imaginary Klonopin, those who walk around wondering how the fuck this and they and that sign came to be, pregnant with the speeding notion that a loon might as well destroy the entire fucking building or at least high-jack the “raffle car,” peel out through the entrance doors, and drive on to a fabled body of water.

The Sopranos creator David Chase has announced his return to HBO with a miniseries about the “the invention of cinema and subsequent growth of the Hollywood film industry”. A Ribbon of Dreams begins in 1913 and follows two men — a college-educated mechanical engineer and a cowboy with a violent past, who begin as employees of D.W. Griffith, and then cross career paths with John Ford, John Wayne, Raoul Walsh, Bette Davis, Billy Wilder and others who gave shape to Hollywood as it grew from “the age of rough-hewn silent Westerns, to the golden era of talkies and the studio system, to the auteur movement, to television, and finally to the present day.”

The title, A Ribbon of Dreams, is taken from an old quote by Orson Welles, who said that “A film is a ribbon of dreams.” Chase is writing the miniseries and plans to direct the initial episodes. I’ve always loved films and television shows set inside the film/television world. One of my friends had a great series idea set in the golden age of Hollywood (being vague for a reason), and while I’m not sure we’ll ever see that idea, this seems like the next best thing. Read the full press release after the jump.

Take a first look at the new Batmobile which will debut in Batman #676. Yeah, I like the the tumbler better. [io9]

The November 1980 issue of Warren Presents: Empire Encounters Comix offers the promise of spoilers for “Star Wars 2!” Boba Fett leading stormtroopers? A Rebel assault on “Vader’s stronghold?” Han Solo and Chewbacca captured by the Empire? [John Booth]

Lionsgate has picked up the rights to the comic book “Deal With the Devil” and has set writer Kyle Ward to adapt. [THR]

Our friends at LatinoReview have seen an unfinished cut of Hellboy II: The Golden Army and says it “was a joy to watch even without the eye candy.” The Sandcrawler Times has a look at a bunch of new WALL-E products from Thinkway Toys.

NYTimes reports that the negative Indiana Jones review which leaked last week was actually from “a theater executive who saw the film at an exhibitors’ screening this week.” And that “Theater executives may have an incentive to play down a movie’s prospects after such a screening, to get better terms.”

American Teen is being given a new soundtrack. Lets hope they don’t suck things up. Please, whatever you do – keep Phantom Planet’s Do The Panic! [theenvolope]

The X-Files: I Want to Believe movie trailer will be released Monday night. [collider] David O. Russell‘s risque political comedy Nailed has been put on hold while shooting in South Carolina because of a “cash crunch” that’s causing problems with SAG, IATSE and the Teamsters. Co-stars Jessica Biel and Jake Gyllenhaal (the pic also stars James Marsden, Catherine Keener, and Tracy Morgan) “are waiting to see if the movie will continue. [Nikki Finke]

LatinoReview is reporting that John Singleton is looking at Bruce Willis for the role of Col. John “Hannibal” Smith for the upcoming big screen version of The A-Team.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says California must increase tax incentives to movie and television studios as a way to keep them from moving their productions out of state. [THR]

Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation will have an Los Angeles premiere at the Mann’s Chinese on Wednesday, May 14th at 7:30 pm. If you ever have the chance to see this film, DO IT! [PRNewswire]